Epic Family,

If I asked you to describe our nation’s current environment, you could probably come up with all kinds of adjectives. But I bet you would never use this word to describe the current state of our country: peaceful. We wish this was different, but we feel powerless to change our reality. On the one hand, you’re right. You can’t bring peace to our entire nation all by yourself. But you actually do have a part to play and that’s what my letter is about this week.

Romans 12:18 If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.

Take ownership. While we can’t make decisions about how everyone else is going to live, we’re without excuse when it comes to how we choose to live. There’s a great phrase we find in this verse - “as far as it depends on you”. Here’s some good news that I hope relieves a bit of pressure in your life: you aren’t going to be held responsible for what everyone else does. However, you will be held responsible for what you do. Are you playing your part when it comes to living at peace with others? Jesus moved towards us to bring us peace. Who are you moving towards so you can bring about peace?

What do you want most? I’ve been asking this question a lot lately. I’ve been asking it to my wife, Shauna, and to our children. I’ve been asking it to some people on our staff team. And now I want to ask you: What do you REALLY want most? Do you want relational peace with your spouse or do you want to win arguments? Do you want to keep a strong friendship or do you want to alienate someone who isn’t being helpful to you in this season? Do you want to have unity on your team at work or do you want to point out that you’re outworking everyone else?

Peace with another person doesn’t mean that you agree with their beliefs or opinions. So many people seem to think that they can’t disagree with another person without condemning that person in some way. This is a tragedy. You can have peace with someone who votes differently than you do. You can have peace with someone who has a different philosophy on life than the one you possess. You can maintain peace without compromising your own values. 

As we all know, it’s not always possible to live at peace with everyone. But I believe there would be way more peace in this world if we simply started doing our part in the peace process. Jesus did everything He could to bring us peace. May we do what we can to bring this same kind of peace to others.

Much Love,